Ophiohamus is a genus of brittle stars in the family Ophiacanthidae from New Caledonia. Timothy D. O'Hara and Sabine Stöhr circumscribed and named the genus in 2006; they described the type species Ophiohamus nanus in the same work. A second species, Ophiohamus georgemartini, was described by O'Hara and Caroline Harding in 2015. , those are the only two species recognized in this genus.
The genus is distinguished from other closely related genera such as Ophiomitrella and Ophiurothamnus by a combination of the following characteristics:
- discs with coarse, overlapping disc plates integrated with large, contiguous radial shields, sometimes with spines;
- interradial incision shallow, the distal two with widened outer papillae;
- small oral and adoral shields, the former distal to the latter and contiguous with the lateral arm plate;
- arms curving but not coiling;
- 3âÂÂ4 short arm spines, restricted laterally to the arm;
- arm spines up to or just exceeding a segment in length;
- lowest arm spine semi-hooked;
- jaw slit enclosing oral tentacles; and
- simple tentacle scale covering small tentacle pore.
References